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AIDS Activist Undergoes Liver Transplant Surgery
Houston Chronicle ^ | December 24, 2001

Posted on 12/25/2001 4:04:30 PM PST by bayourod

PITTSBURGH -- AIDS activist, author and playwright Larry Kramer underwent liver transplant surgery and was listed in serious condition Monday.

Kramer's doctors said his condition was improving and was about where it should be after the 12-hour surgery Friday.

Kramer, 66, spent seven months on the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's waiting list. He moved to Pittsburgh in early November to wait for an organ to become available. While many transplant centers oppose the surgery for HIV-positive patients, UPMC's Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute has performed 10 liver transplants on HIV-positive patients since 1997. Eight of the patients have survived. Kramer's HIV has been relatively well controlled, but he suffered from end-stage liver failure caused by hepatitis B.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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Livers for homosexuals but not for alcoholics.

How many people have been infected with AIDS by the 8 other homosexual recipients since their surgeries?

Which organ will fail next and have to be replaced as his AIDS progresses?

1 posted on 12/25/2001 4:04:31 PM PST by bayourod
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To: bayourod
AIDS activist, author and playwright Larry Kramer underwent liver transplant
surgery and was listed in serious condition Monday.


This is the greatest affront to the beauty of the English Language and theater...
since Shakespeare died.
2 posted on 12/25/2001 4:08:53 PM PST by VOA
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To: bayourod
This sort of thing is one of the reasons I'll never sign a 'blank check' organ donation document.

I wouldn't mind a family member or friend (or even a right-minded stranger) from getting some use out of body parts that I wasn't able to use anymore...

But I refuse to even risk being the one responsible for lengthening the life of some stinking liberal or pervert.

3 posted on 12/25/2001 4:20:23 PM PST by DWSUWF
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To: DWSUWF
Guarantee if you donated to the UNited Way you helped pay for that liver.
4 posted on 12/25/2001 4:22:08 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: bayourod
66 year old with HIV...what a waste of a liver!
5 posted on 12/25/2001 4:27:17 PM PST by Rain-maker
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To: bayourod
I can see transplants if they get them from other AIDS donors but there's such a shortage of organs that letting someone die of liver disease who doesn't have AIDS so they can give this AIDS-free liver to someone with AIDS is wrong.
6 posted on 12/25/2001 4:29:41 PM PST by FITZ
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To: bayourod
Which organ will fail next and have to be replaced as his AIDS progresses?

Apparently his kidneys, from the article on the operation in the Pittsburgh Tribune.

Story in Tribune

"This morning, Larry said to me, 'You know, this really is revolutionary. This is the next big story in AIDS treatment,'" said friend and caregiver Rodger McFarlane.

Mr. Kramer is the founder of ACT-UP.

7 posted on 12/25/2001 4:31:02 PM PST by welfareworker
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
"...Guarantee if you donated to the UNited Way you helped pay for that liver..."

When I worked for a corporation, in years past, I was always quite open about my refusal to donate to the United Way/United Fund.

This being said, my record is not ('officially' at least) unblemished...

Years ago I had a supervisor who craved a '100%' contribution rate from his subordinates. My refusal to cooperate landed me in his office, where I had the pleasure of refusing him to his face.

He was apoplectic...

We compromised by him reaching in his pocket and handing me $15, at which point I authorized $1 a month for 12 months. Net profit to me: $3, but at the cost of an ugly technical violation of my charity code...

8 posted on 12/25/2001 4:32:44 PM PST by DWSUWF
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To: Rain-maker
66 year old with HIV...what a waste of a liver!

How many children or other people died of liver failure so an AIDS activist could extend his selfish life just a little longer?

9 posted on 12/25/2001 4:34:30 PM PST by FITZ
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To: DWSUWF
I know what you mean. I worked for a DoD contractor (largest in the US) and was always pressured into donating to the UW (and never did). What a scam. They must give % kickbacks based on the amount the get.
10 posted on 12/25/2001 4:42:08 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
"...What a scam..."

'Scam' is the EXACT word that pops into my head when I hear the words 'United Way'.

Of course, that's merely one man's opinion...

11 posted on 12/25/2001 4:49:42 PM PST by DWSUWF
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To: DWSUWF
IMO the Pope should be the head of UW. But that is this man's opinion...
12 posted on 12/25/2001 4:52:58 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: RedBloodedAmerican
"...IMO the Pope should be the head of UW. But that is this man's opinion..."

A religious leader of the Pope's stature, or of Billy Graham's for that matter, would lend it some credibility, yes.

But the bottom line is that the UW is an unnecessary layer, with overhead mouths to feed that can easily be eliminated simply by donating directly to deserving charities.

13 posted on 12/25/2001 5:04:35 PM PST by DWSUWF
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To: welfareworker
"The need for liver and kidney transplants has risen greatly in recent years due to new therapies that allow patients with HIV to live longer, in turn allowing progression of chronic liver failure. "
From TRIBUNE link in reply #7
14 posted on 12/25/2001 5:13:22 PM PST by bayourod
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: BoPepper
"...You are one sorry excuse for a human being. There are a number of Freepers that used to be liberal. Many of us have familiy and friends that are liberals. Refusing to sign an organ donor card for ideological reasons is just plain incomprehensible..."

I would never knowingly do anything to keep the light in a liberal's eyes for a single second.

Now, pray tell, exactly which part of this unequivocally stated, starkly uncompromising policy do you find 'incomprehensible'?

16 posted on 12/25/2001 5:22:03 PM PST by DWSUWF
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: BoPepper
"...Placing a higher value on the life of a conservative..."

Duh...

"...By the way, you may be condemning a conservative or potential conservative to a shorter life by refusing to sign a organ donor card..."

Of course this is a potential downside. Every policy, every strategy, ha a downside. In a more perfect world you could put a trustworthy organization in charge of the post-mortem distribution of your donated organs so that you could have a measure of assurance that liberals and their ilk would be discriminated against.

"...If you can not recognize the idiocy of your position, then you must be impervious to logical or rational thought..."

Admit it, newbie, you just don't like my philosophy, my eager willingness to discriminate against leftists on a life and death basis. And -judging by how quickly you resorted to name-calling- my guess would be that your credentials as a conservative are shaky at best.

18 posted on 12/25/2001 6:08:53 PM PST by DWSUWF
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To: FITZ
Next stop on the agenda? No organ transplants for Boy Scouts or Salvation Army members until they change their ways......
19 posted on 12/25/2001 6:15:52 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: anniegetyourgun
Maybe only the politically correct can have livers or other organs. It really made no sense to deny someone who has a chance to live a liver so they could give it to someone with a terminal illness instead.
20 posted on 12/25/2001 6:21:01 PM PST by FITZ
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